


Life Happens in The Background

by TheCreatorOfTales



Series: The Governor's Family [1]
Category: Wentworth (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Freakytits - Freeform, Happy, Joan and Vera are good parents, Protective!Joan, Protective!Vera, Soft!Joan, Vera and Joan deserve to be happy, Will Jackson having an epiphany, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:02:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26822608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCreatorOfTales/pseuds/TheCreatorOfTales
Summary: Will Jackson sees a whole other side to Governor Ferguson and Deputy Governor Bennett when he has to drop off some work files at their house.Except... he didn't realise that the two women lived together.Complete AU but I want my ship to be happy.Very Soft!Joan and Protective!Vera
Relationships: Vera Bennett/Joan Ferguson
Series: The Governor's Family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956403
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Life Happens in The Background

Will Jackson didn’t want to be stood outside the Governor’s door to her house. He didn’t want to have to see her outside of work at all, however something had come up tonight. He needed to give her the papers that detailed the incident that occurred earlier, and when he’d phoned her to ask her to come into Wentworth to get them, she’d sighed and told him that it wouldn’t be possible for her to do so. After giving him her address and telling him to knock quietly, she’d hung up. 

So here he stood, at 10pm, with a thick folder tucked under one arm, still in his prison officer uniform. He knocked twice, louder than he anticipated, fist slamming against the glass of the door, but soon enough the shape of a short woman could be seen walking towards the door through the frosted glass and it opened. But it wasn’t Joan Ferguson that opened the door.

Deputy Vera Bennett stood in front of him, looking mildly inconvenienced that he was here. She was dressed casually, in a long sleeved Henley shirt and black leggings, whilst her feet were barefoot. Her hair was down, and she wore no makeup.

“Hi Will.”

“Hi Vera. What are you doing here?” He was completely confused as to why the woman was in her lounge clothes, in the Governor’s house, looking far more comfortable than he’d ever seen her outside of work. Vera wasn’t oblivious, she knew that he was staring, and that the man was completely confused and had been thrown off-kilter by seeing her. But the truth was, she’d lived in Joan’s house for nearly six months now, after her mother had died, and they’d had the most heartfelt conversation both Vera and Joan had ever had. Shortly after, they were secretly dating, and then when Vera didn’t want to keep the house her mother had lived in with her after Rita Bennett died, they moved in together. But of course, nobody in Wentworth knew this.

“I live here. You might as well come in, Will.” Vera opened the door wider, and stepped aside, allowing the man room to enter the house, and giving him the first glimpse into the hallway. He noticed that along the wall to his right was a rack of five coat hooks, each one with something hanging on them. On the first two, were the Governor’s and Vera’s coats, whilst on the third was a mixture of denim, leather jackets and raincoats, all in different colours, and distinctly smaller sized. The fourth and fifth all held the same styled coats, however one was all pinks and one grey, whilst the last one was in shades of yellows, greens and blues. He didn’t notice the shoe rack underneath, littered with different shoes of all sizes, from Joan’s work heels, to small glittery wellingtons. Once Will was inside, Vera shut the door and locked it.

“Come on, Joan’s in the living room.”

Vera walked ahead of him, the layout of the house was second nature to her by now, but Will was staring in shock at pictures that hung on the walls, displaying school photos, a young girl wearing a Judo uniform, holding up a coloured belt, a gap in her teeth. The one next to it had two small girls with their hair in pigtails holding up a fish in each of their hands, grinning at the camera. Before the doorway to the living room, was a framed picture of three girls, the oldest no older than eight, and the two young girls, obviously twins, and aged around four or five. All three were wearing Christmas pyjamas, stood in front of a decorated Christmas tree. All three looked excited, so he assumed that it was a Christmas Eve picture. His mind whirled with the implication of the photos, and the coat hooks, and The Governor not being able to drop everything and rush to the prison to sort an issue out late at night.

_Was Joan Ferguson a parent?_

Vera watched Will’s face as he tried to make sense of his thoughts. Vera had been surprised too to find out that there were three small children in Joan’s life. Joan had informed her of her situation with them early on in their courtship, however she quickly grew to love them as much as Joan did, once they’d explained their relationship to them. The three girls hadn’t really cared, all that mattered to them was that there was another person that would sit and cuddle with them in the evenings after tea, and they mostly behaved so there wasn’t often need for scolding or discipline.

“Will.” She called his name softly, aware that they were stood near the stairs, and that the doors of the twins’ rooms were ajar so they could see that the nightlight in the hallway was alight. Any excess noise would carry and might wake them.

He jerked around to stare at her, looking visibly shaken. She gestured with her head for him to follow her into the room, which opened up into a large and cosy living room, with a grey L shaped sofa, filled with comfortable looking cushions, and two fluffy blankets thrown neatly over the arm of one side. The wall behind the tv was a pale blue that matched the rugs, whilst the rest of the room was painted a warm grey. There was a fireplace, with a log burner set in the centre, cheerfully burning. Melbourne was cold this time of year, so the room was toasty with the help of the fire. There were more photos on the wall above the mantelpiece, of the same young girls in the photos in the hallway, but Will noticed a few of Vera and Joan together. The hardwood floor had cosy duck egg blue rugs, one between the sofa and the tv, and one towards the back of the room were Joan was on her knees gathering up wayward colouring supplies to keep them back in their usual space. Noticing that Vera and Will were in the room, she finished her task, piling the last of the crayons and coloured pencils into the tub, and then getting to her feet, bringing the tub with her to place it on the sideboard as she passed. Will noticed the two half drunk glasses of wine on the oak coffee table, and that the tv was showing Orange is the New Black paused halfway through an episode.

_He’d interrupted their evening._

Governor Ferguson was dressed in a pair of black leggings and a soft cream sweater, with her hair down around her shoulders. He’d never seen her so casual, and it was jarring to him, to see his superior without her usual immaculate uniform and hair in a bun. She looked at him, before stepping around and offering him a seat on the sofa.

“Please, have a seat Mr Jackson, and explain to me what happened tonight.”

Recognising the tone of voice, he sat with the same level of nervousness as a schoolchild might sit in front of a principal when they were called to the school office. He offered Joan the folder he held, she grasped it as she sat in the corner of the sofa with practiced ease, opening it and beginning to read as she sat down. Obviously the corner was her spot, then. Vera appeared next to him, having slipped off to the kitchen across the hallway to make him a cup of tea. He smiled in gratitude at her and she returned it and moved to sit next to Joan on the sofa, turning her head to look at the folder too.

“How the hell did nobody pick up on this during the count?” Vera asked, perplexed at how a group of inmates could do this level of damage and not one on duty officer picked up on a tense atmosphere in the unit. As Joan continued to read, she passed the pages that she’d already read to Vera, so that she could look over them too. Both women did this with such practiced ease it made Will realise that there was a lot about both his Governor and his Deputy that he didn’t know.

Joan sighed as she read the damage that had occurred. Four prisoners in the medical unit, with various broken bones, cuts and bruises, one unit common area had been completely trashed, and two officers had to visit the emergency department of the hospital to get stitches from the shivs that the inmates had managed to either craft themselves or barter for. She opened her mouth to speak but noticed a small figure stood in the doorway. Will turned as he noticed that the Governor’s attention was focused over his shoulder.

A little girl with a mess of curly brunette hair stood in the doorway, holding a fluffy blanket covered in cartoon frogs and wearing matching pyjamas. The soft lighting of the hallway made her seem smaller, but the blanket was clutched tightly up to the side of her face, tired eyes looking at the adults in the room. The sight made Will smile a little. It was adorable.

“Aunty Jo? The nightlight got broke.”

_Aunty Jo? So she isn’t their parent?_

Joan and Vera shared a look, before Joan passed the folder over to Vera, who continued to read. Joan carefully stepped past Vera’s feet and then passed Will to walk to the little girl. Once she was close enough, Will saw the little frog enthusiast reach up her arms in the universal gesture for ‘Up, please.’ He watched as his usually fearsome Governor bent at the waist, grasped the little girl under the arms and hoisted her up into her embrace, blanket and all, speaking in a tone so soft that he’d never heard her use before.

“Let’s see what’s wrong with your nightlight, hm, Charlie?” Joan began to walk out of the room as she spoke, the little girl curled into her arms, not bothering to look back at the only man in her house. The little girl however, looked over her aunt’s shoulder to look him in the eye, and although she was obviously tired, the little girl, apparently called Charlie, looked at him with the same shrewd look that her aunt did. Will didn’t quite know how to feel about this new information that Joan Ferguson was more than simply the Governor. She was also apparently Aunty Jo, and Joan to Vera.

Will watched the two leave the room, and heard them begin to go up the stairs.

“Will, if it makes any more sense for you, I’m their Aunty Vee.” Vera didn’t bother to look up at him, finishing the final paragraph in the folder and closing it. “We’d both appreciate it if you didn’t go in tomorrow and blabbed about us to the entire prison.”

Will felt a flash of offense shoot through him at her implication that the first thing he would do would be to spread the latest scoop of gossip he had at the prison.

“Vera, you know I wouldn’t –“ he started but saw that the deputy had lifted her head to stare him straight in the face.

“No, I don’t. Just like you don’t really know anything about us outside of work.” She cut across him. Her voice was hard, her posture stiff as she held the folder between her hands. “No offence, Will. But you, Linda, Fletch and the rest of them aren’t my friends. You and Fletch are close, sure, Linda is fun in small doses, but you aren’t my or Joan’s friends. Which is fine, we’re your management after all. We have our own friends outside of work anyway. But we keep this quiet to keep us and the girls safe.” Will didn’t know how to feel about what she said, she was absolutely right. He knew how dangerous Wentworth could be. And the staff didn’t do much with Vera outside of work, they didn’t even ask her usually, meanwhile they often went for drinks after a shift. All Will knew of anything Vera had done with the officers was the incident with Fletch that neither would speak of, except that Fletch had said that he’d embarrassed himself and humiliated Vera in the process. He hadn’t asked for more detail. Vera had been very self-conscious before Ferguson had become Governor, but she’d bloomed with confidence and self- assurance since the woman had taken over. He supposed it was only natural that the two had been drawn together.

Vera seemed far happier and content than she had in the years when she was still at home with her mother. Sure he never thought that she’d like girls, but who was he to judge? She had a home here, the pictures proved that, as well as her knickknacks around the place.

“Vera is right, Mr Jackson, we’d both appreciate if you kept this quiet. More for our girls, than us in all honesty. You aren’t ignorant of some of the type of women we deal with daily.”

Joan’s voice made him jump, as she passed behind him to return to her seat.

Vera turned to face her and asked if Charlie was alright.

“Mhm, the battery had gone in the light, so I changed it and tucked her back in. She was already sleeping by the time I tucked her blanket in next to her.” The two women smiled at each other as Joan settled back into her corner.

“Mr Jackson,” he turned to his boss. “Has the situation been dealt with?” Seeing the man nod she looked at Vera first, then back to him. “I’ll handle the extra paperwork tomorrow when we go in, and I’ll check what caused it. Right now, there’s not much else we can do, and you looked tired. I know you worked a double. We’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

The two women stood, as did Will. He moved to the doorway, both women behind him and they walked him out to the front door.

As he left the house, he noticed that both spots in the driveway had a car parked in it, that there was a child’s bike resting along the side of the porch wall and a cricket set was left on the grass by the path

_How had he not noticed that?_

He climbed onto his bike, raised his hand in farewell to both his superiors, who returned the gesture with a small smile as he placed his helmet on his head, revved the bike and pulled away. Joan and Vera shut and locked the door as he left.

“Please tell me we paused the series where we left it.” Vera giggled at Joan’s statement, following her back into the living room, patting the raven haired woman’s behind as she passed her to grab one of the blankets from the end of the sofa. Joan grinned and squealed slightly feeling Vera’s hand, but leant back into her corner of the sofa and waited for Vera to lean against her and cover both of their legs with the blanket. Vera grabbed both wine glasses and the remote for the tv, then sat back next to Joan, leaning into her side. The older woman stretched out her legs, shifting to get more comfortable as Vera covered them in the blanket and pressed play. Once Vera was comfortable, Joan wrapped one arm around her and sipped her wine.

Although the girls were not biologically theirs, they might as well have been. Joan’s older and only sister, had moved away when their mother had died and caused a complete change in their father. Alexandra had been nearly 4 years older than Joan, and still young when they lost their mother, however had been able to move due to being accepted at a boarding school for talented musicians in Ireland at 16. Whilst their father had focused on Joan’s fencing talent, their mother had nurtured Alexandra’s skill at violin, cello and piano. Joan had kept in contact as much as she could, but with both parents now dead, when her sister and husband died in a car accident two years ago, the girls had nowhere to go to but to their aunt in Australia. After a small period of adjustment the girls had coped with the change, which Joan had guessed that their ages had helped with. Her life had completely changed, almost overnight. The twins, Charlotte (fondly known as Charlie) and Natasha (also known as Tasha) had been only two, and barely remembered their parents. Cara was older, and had been six when they lost her parents, so remembered slightly more, and Joan was always happy to reminisce with her oldest niece. Her life now was filled with laughter, and sound of children running to and fro, or playing. When Vera became a part of that life, she felt complete. The younger woman had taken immediately to all three girls, and vice versa. All three had been asking when the deputy would be living with them after their first official date after about 2 months of dancing around each other.

Thinking back made Joan hugged the curly haired women closer to her, who snuggled more in return and threw her free hand to wrap around her whilst they relaxed. The officers and prisoners at Wentworth truly had no idea.

Vera’s thoughts were following a similar pattern. She loved all of her girls, Joan included in that count. The others in the prison didn’t see the Joan that she saw. They didn’t see the Joan that would slump over her morning mug of coffee, half asleep as Vera wrangled her hair into the classic bun before every shift (Joan wasn’t a morning person, Vera was.). The Joan that caught all the spiders whilst Vera and the three girls all cowered behind a cushion. They certainly didn’t see the Joan that winked at her as she kissed her way down her body during the night to have some fun. Her Joan was passionate, caring, and family orientated. She was still passionate and caring during her shifts in the prison, it was simply more subdued and subtle. If you knew where to look, you could see the signs. Where a cup of coffee would be waiting in the office for her on her lunch break regardless if Joan was in the office with her or not, or the little note with a simple ‘Love you x J x’ in the lunch box that she’d made the night before.

They really had no clue.

If Will did end up spreading what he’d seen tonight, then they’d deal with it. But both women had half a mind to start letting more signs be obvious, it became exhausting trying to act like they didn’t love the bones off each other during their shifts. They’d see what tomorrow would bring them, however right now they had Netflix to watch, wine to drink and perhaps a little bit of fooling around on the sofa to be had.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos keep me going you guys! 
> 
> Thanks for all your support so far for my writing, its is appreciated! <3


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